Fallen
by AbaddontheDevourer
Summary: Humans. There's something about the species that entices even the Gods and Demons to mingle with them. This is the story of a human who rose to prominence during the Great War and his struggles in dealing with those he had slaughtered en masse in the name of his Lord. How he Fell and rose once more to seize what had always eluded him.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Prologue

Acrid smoke filled the air, as the lamentations of hundreds echoed. They cursed and screamed, begged and pleaded, their voices rising in crescendo before falling silent.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The dark world was bathed in purifying light and for a single moment not a single shadow existed in this false world.

A single woman lay panting on the ground, clawing at it as she struggled to drag her battered body away from the destruction. Each movement was agonizing as jagged rocks ripped and pierced her once delicate skin. Her once regal dress was in tatters, a few scraps hanging off her voluptuous frame failing to cover her modesty. The long and luscious brown hair that had been the envy of many a woman as well as the fantasy of many men was clumped and roughly cut possessing none of the splendor it had been known for.

But she didn't care, ignoring the agony of her wounds as she crawled towards her attacker. Every second she lived was a second closer to freedom and every inch moved an insult to the one who had harmed her so grievously.

Vengeance and pure willpower drove her, empowering her battered body, she would LIVE! Her home, her family were all being threatened by this…this demon, and here she was powerless to stop it.

The screaming grew louder with each foot she crawled, the stench of burning flesh overpowering her heightened senses. Every instinct in her cried out for her to flee, to find the deepest and blackest hole that she could in an attempt to bury what had happened here today. But she would not.

After what seemed like hours she finally came upon her ruined home its stately grandeur ruined. The attack had come without warning and they had been unprepared for the ferocity of it, and it had taken everything she had just to buy her people enough time to take shelter. Still her body may be weary and broken, her home in shambles but to her it did not matter as both could be rebuilt. The lives of those who had entrusted themselves to her and their families were more important than anything else. At the ruined foyer she managed to find a staff sturdy enough to support her frail stature, and she managed to stand on shaky legs.

Hobbling through her home, flashes of happier times played through her mind. Playing with both her sister and her daughter and niece, memories of her parents and growing up, the parties she had held, all of it torn asunder. She stumbled and fell her hands slick with blood and gore as she came face to face with the perverse visage of her seneschal. She had known the man since her birth, and he had helped raise her and later acted as her advisor, to her he was more than a servant but a pseudo-uncle. Now though his features were twisted in horror and pain, his mouth forever open as he silently screamed, his once twinkling blue eyes now nothing more than hollow expanses where they had been burned out.

She fought the urge to vomit as she saw his body lying on the other side of the hall, along with dozens of others, their skin blackened and charred, limbs vaporized and some leaving no trace of their existence except for the memories she held and a pile of ash where they had stood their ground.

 _You'll be avenged._ She thought wiping away her tears. She pushed herself back to her feet, the staff finally giving out and snapping, sending her back to the ground.

"AHHH-" She heard a scream suddenly interrupted as an intense pressure bore down on her. The sound spurred her on and she stumbled back up and using the wall as crutch made her way towards the heart of the manor. More screams, each one growing more and more desperate as she approached the most well defended part of her home, and also the area that served as a shelter for the families under her protection.

The entire layout of the manor had been designed to give attackers difficulties in advancing while bolstering defenders, as well as being maze like to herd them to killzones. These all failed as the demon cleaved its way through anything that stood in its path. Following it had been child's play but how she wished she didn't, as the overwhelming presence drove her to her knees.

Turning the corner she found the one that had wounded her so and killed all her men. A silver Demon loomed in front of her, its entire body encased in steel in the form of a Knight.

From the sabatons protecting his feet to the visored barbute with decorative swept back wings on either side, the armor screamed majesty. On the Demon's back was what was once an immaculate white cape reaching his knees, only now the fringe was in tatters and soaked in blood. In his left hand was a blazing tear dropped shape tower shield of white light, while in his right he brandished a wicked looking halberd.

As if sensing her gaze the Demon turned to her, releasing its weapons allowing them to dissipate into the particles that they were formed from.

Demon and Woman stared at one another for a long second before the demon dismissed her as insignificant, and turned its back on her. Screaming in outrage she let loose, a blue magic circle materializing in front of her and shooting forth a dozen spears of ice.

The Demon didn't care, the constructs simply disappearing the moment that they touched him. Before she could cast another attack a steel fist met her stomach, as she stared at the space in front of her wide eyed. _I didn't even see him move._ Her mind stammered before the pain hit her and she was lifted off her feet to collide with the ceiling.

Before she could fall back down she felt a force seize her limbs, and she saw the Demon with his hand outstretched as if grasping her body. With a negligent flick of its wrist it sent her hurtling into the walls of the room,

Her cries of pain and agony reverberated in the narrow corridors. _What is he doing?_ She thought, only to realize what it was planning. They were in front of the shelter that protected her family and the family of her retainers, and he was preying on any sympathy/loyalty that they might have for her. He was unable to breach the barrier that protected them, so the only thing he could do was force them to open the door and let him in.

Knowing this she tried to stifle her screams, but to no avail. The demon took her limp body and smashed it against the barrier protecting the shelter, her face against the magic seal. Those on the inside could only watch in horror as the demon took their Lady's head in one massive plated gauntlet and begin to slowly crush it.

That was the final straw as the last of the soldiers activated the defenses on the door, casting a large concussion spell that sent both their lady and the Demon flying to opposite sides of the room.

The doors opened and the soldiers sallied forth in an attempt to grab their Lady and bring her into the protections of the shelter. "NO! YOU FOOLS!"

Only for their play to fail in the first few seconds.

The Demon recovered quicker than they thought possible and holding his hand out a cone of white light erupted from his palm. "Thank you." The demon said softly, its voice light and lyrical, sweet like the finest honey. The air was awash with screaming then an ominous silence.

A symphony of Destruction in which he was the maestro.

Where once there were a dozen soldiers bravely marching to rescue her there were now a dozen piles of ash, the light reducing them into piles finer than grains of sand. The fine armor that she had given them befitting their station as effective as issue paper against the cleansing power of the attack.

Crying out in anguish she let loose with the remaining reserves of her power, summoning forth spears of ice, torrents of water to try and drown him and razor sharp whips.

All failed.

The Demon stood there stoically taking the attacks, never moving an inch. Every attack she cast did not so much fail to penetrate his defenses as simply wink out of existence.

Collapsing in exhaustion, it was only then that the Demon decided to move as it took a step towards her. "SISTER!" a voice cried out and both turned to see a young woman, dressed in a nightgown charging from the doorway brandishing a crude spear of ice.

"Alia NO!" The exhausted woman cried out seeing her sister trying to attack the Demon. If her powerful magics were unable to pierce the defenses of this demonic knight then what hope did a woman with an already weakened body wielding a crude spear have?

As if in answer to her question the crude spear shattered as soon as it touched the armor, and an armored hand shot forth and grasped Alia by the throat, lifting her a foot off the ground as the armored being stared at her.

With its free hand it pointed its palm towards the shelter, and both sisters gasped as they saw the faces staring at them. Faces both young and old, many of whom they had grown up with and who had entrusted themselves to the pair. Alia desperately tried to escape, to cast something to protect them, as her exhausted sister begged and pleaded with the Demon, promising anything and everything so long as her people were spared.

It was a futile effort as everyone felt the power gathering in his palm, and even bodily throwing herself at the arm could not divert his aim. The two sisters turned, mouthing apologies to their people only to see their hollow eyes judging, damning them for their failures, and in a flash of Light they were nothing more than shadows on the walls.

The sisters cried as they felt the weight of their failings, before the Demon turned its attention back to them. Its grip tightened and Alia found herself unable to breath, her hand beating futilely against its armored chest and bracers. Her sister attempted to tackled the armored demon only to be kicked away, the steel sabaton crashing into her face with a sickening crunch.

She could only watch through teary eyes as the final moment of her sister's life played out. The Demon raised its hand and placed it on her sister's forehead.

"I love you." Alia said, her eyes rolled back as she issued a banshee like wail before her entire body crumbled into ash.

The demon trampled over her remains, uncaring about the fact that it had been a living being only a minute ago.

"Why?" She asked, her mind broken from the shock of all that happened. The Demon was silent as she pressed it for answers. "She had nothing to do with the War. She was innocent in this."

In response the Demon pulled out a well-used Rosario of silver and gold.

"That's what this is about!" The exhausted woman cried out. "I have lost more than you have! My friends killed, our homes ravaged and destroyed! The very air poisoned, the ground burning anyone that stepped foot there. Now you stand here, over the bodies of my family any you dare to justify your actions because of the fact that you lost your-"

Anything else she might've said was cut off as the Demon raised its right hand and shot forth a blast of Light, vaporizing the upper half of her body.

As if mockingly a voice whispered in the back of his mind. _She will never love you. Not after how far you've Fallen._

"BE SILENT!" He commanded, his control slipping for a moment, vaporizing the rest of the woman before him. No longer was his voice like sweet honey, but raw, powerful and unyielding. Every word he said was a promise and was imbued with the solemn authority of Divine Kingship.

Shaking his head, he raised his hand and solemnly he intoned, "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."

As he spoke a shimmering distortion formed in the air, as the hilt of a sword began to slowly poke out. Grasping it with two hands he withdrew it from its special vault. The entire world was bathed in light and majesty, as all who looked at the blade could not help but stare at its magnificence. This was not a weapon forged by mortal hands but willed into existence by the Divine himself, imbued with a portion of himself, and created during the darkest days of the War. It was a weapon made with the singular purpose of smiting his foes. If Excalibur was a Sword of Man this was a Sword of God, the crystallization of the Prayer of Domination, the dream of a God who sought to protect his children from the horrors of the Dark. So long as it existed so did the Dream that it represented and so to would he be here to carry out the will of his Lord.

Taking the blade in his hands he said, "EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED!" Then he plunged the blade into the ground. "KYRIE ELEISON!"

A pillar of light erupted from him sundering the heavens and destroying everything around him, as its divine might rapidly expanded to the outlying countryside.

Nothing it touched survived and when it faded all that was left was a single Demon clad in steel kneeling on the ground with a sword stabbed into the ground. The entire region had been purified of the filth, and yet he was still no closer to hearing the voice of his Lord once more. Unseen tears flowed from behind its armored visage as it cried out. When silence answered him, the demon pulled the sword out of the ground and dismissed it back into its vault and began to leave.

* * *

She watched as the demon left her ruined home, had seen as it killed her family, and then disappeared. Numbly she crawled out of the small shelter that her mother had sent her to, separate from the ones that the others had gone to. Almost immediately she cried out in pain as the searing hot sand burned her hands and knees. Stubbornly she carried on, desperate to find some proof of her family, her young mind unable to fully process the devastation she had seen wrought. The closer she got to the epicenter the harder she found it to breathe, the aftereffects of the attack slowly transforming the area turning it into a poisonous badlands for her kind.

Frantically she searched through the ruins looking for something…anything that was her family's. Her hands dug through the ashes of the remains, until her hand brushed something cold and metallic.

Crying out in triumph she dug faster, her small hands combing through the ash to reveal a small locket. Tears poured from her eyes as she stumbled with the latch, the sight of her mother and aunt greeting her when she got it open.

Clutching it to her chest she held onto it like a life preserver, to her it was all that remained of her proud family.

Getting up on shaky legs she tried to figure out what to do now, only for all her plans to come to a screeching halt, as pain unlike any she had felt in her few years struck her in the chest. Numbly she looked down to see a cruciform shape impaled in her pubescent body. Unable to truly understand what was going on she touched the object, wondering exactly how it got there. Looking up her eyes grew wide in horror as the Silver Demon loomed in front of her, slowly materializing as if it had been standing there cloaked the entire time. In its hand it clutched a long and slender rapier like sword with an extremely short hilt that was dyed red the same as its crossguard. Demon and child stared at one another for several seconds, before the demon rammed the remaining meter of the blade's length through her body, and twisted.

A wail that could put a banshee's to shame erupted from her mouth as the demon let go of the blade and she fell to her knees desperately trying to remove it. However she was unable to as the poisonous aura began to invade her body slowly and painfully killing her. It watched her, its stoic silence a foil to her loud wailing.

Kneeling down it picked up the locket of her family and gently pried it open, staring at the picture. Then with a burst of cruel power the locket disintegrated in front of her very eyes, before the demon stood up and turned its back and began to walk away, the billowing white cloak fluttering in the wind. With every step it took it body gradually disappeared until it was nothing more than the slightest shimmer.

Crying, refusing to accept her fate as her hand touched the ashes of the locket for the briefest moment before it was blown away.

And so it was that the child, Katerea Leviathan, last descendent of Leviathan, was left to die on the ashes of all that she had loved.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Advancing Tides

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is an experiment on shorter, more concise and often chapters. Tell me what you think of the idea of weekly or bi-weekly chapters of about 2.5k words rather than monthly 5k+ chapters.

* * *

He walked through the cesspool that was the city, his face hidden behind a long concealing cloak.

In the distance he could hear the clacking of horse hooves against the cobblestone, the drunken bawling of the people, and other noises one associated with London 1666. Tilting his head upwards he stared at the sky, a part of him longing for white marble halls of his former home, but then his eyes drifted to the moon. Tonight would be perfect, there were no clouds floating across the heavens and the full moon loomed overhead. Looking around he surveyed the den of sin that he was traveling through, and what a den it was. He had never seen so much sin since the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, since the power of his Lord had turned the cities into barren wastelands. It shamed him to think that they had been unable to find even 10 good men in that city, and for the sin that had perverted the people into beasts they were judged. As a man he had lead the purging of his fellows, and as a loyal servant of the Lord he had rained down Heaven's Judgment upon the two cities.

The last time such power had been rained down God had sent his angels to destroy the tower of Babel.

When he had finished there was nothing but a clean and barren waste, his power cracking and turning the ground to glass and sand.

But for all the sin that the humans had been infected with, he knew the true cause of their vices.

Devils.

Those original Fallen that God had cast out, and like a bad wound had festered in the pits of the Underworld, before branching out and converting those that they met. Humans had turned into demons, making deals with devils for the power that they wielded, gleefully sacrificing their immortal souls as well as any hope for salvation in exchange for a bit of power. The deal to turn a human into a Demon was one that still made him shudder in disgust and shame, his mind unable to fully comprehend the depths that some would sink to.

To turn a human into a demon required an act that would stain the soul black. Murder and rape, were the two he had seen the most. He had heard stories of how fathers raped daughters before killing them and their unborn child all in order to forge a pact with a devil. How mothers would rape sons before sacrificing both their sons as well as their wombs to birth hell spawn. That perversion as well as the sins that they had committed had led to them being damned to the deepest pits of Hell. He had grown disillusioned with his fellow man, seeing them given so much only to fail every time, and though few turned to demons anymore, what was going on now was almost as bad.

The Evil Pieces.

Items that allowed a Devil to create more of their own kind, and their target of choice were humans blessed by his Lord. He would not allow such an affront to his Lord to continue! Humans had been gifted with Sacred Gears in order to defend themselves against other Pantheons as well as Devils, and yet there was now an overwhelming amount of Devils who commanded the power that God had given to his chosen people.

It was Unforgiveable!

And it was for that he was here walking in this cesspool of a city. His contact had told him that there was a powerful Demon possessing a sacred gear preying on the dregs of society. So here he was in Whitechappel stalking an unknown Demon, with less than ideal information, all the while nursing a worsening headache. The only thing he knew was that all the exorcists the church had sent to deal with it had never reported back, and after losing so many the church had finally discretely posted an open bounty on the creature through several back channels.

Grumbling to himself he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and checked the address to where his partner for this mission was supposed to be.

 _She should be around here._ He thought to himself as he looked around the area. He was so engrossed in his search that he almost missed the presence coming up from behind him, and it was only thanks to his Lord's will that he dove forward, narrowly missing an attack that would've pierced his vitals.

"Well what do we have here?" A sickly voice asked, as he spun around, an arming sword appearing in his right hand as a kite shield attached itself to his left arm.

"So the kitty has claws does it?" The voiced mockingly cackled.

Banging the crossguard of his sword against the shield, the blade pointed skyward, refusing to fall for the mocking of the Demon.

A ball of light shot forth from the tip of his sword rising 10 feet into the air before exploding and bathing the entire area in light.

"Gahhh!" The demon hissed, as its sensitive eyes were hit by the equivalent of a flashbang. He had no such issues as he got his first good look at the demon.

Demons were almost always unique in both their appearance as well as their powers and he wasn't disappointed by what he saw. The one in front of him had purple leather skin as well as an insectoid almost carapace-like armor to it. It was crouched on all fours but what was unique was the fact that it had a second pair or arms this one instead of ending in five dexterous digits ended in three claw like fingers. Its face was oddly human yet strikingly different, it had a massive and currently unhinged jaw with thin stiletto-like teeth. A long red tongue snaked out of its mouth dripping acid like spit that hissed and sizzled against the pavement, and it had ridges on its forehead that similar to overlapping plates. The back of its skull flared out to either encompass a larger brain or the fact that it was simply armored to prevent attacks from getting through. What was most distinct though were the ruby red eyes that glowed with hate and malice.

He wasted no time as he dismissed his sword and created a javelin out of Holy Light. It barely took him a second to create the weapon and within 3 seconds the javelin had taken flight from his hand, crossed the distance between them and taken the head off the demon. _Amateur_. He thought, watching the body slowly be destroyed, yet he didn't drop his guard. This had been too easy, a Demon of this level could've easily been dealt with by a standard exorcist yet none had managed to do so. Either the level of the Exorcists had considerably dropped since he had served, or this Demon had some sort of ability.

The answer to his question would come a moment later when an identical demon would appear, pouncing on him from above, its claws bearing down on him. He held his blade up, allowing gravity to do all the work for him, as he swung his shield to the side in a single count. The Demon was impaled through his Holy Blade as the shield deflected its arms out of the way, protecting him from harm. Tearing his blade free from its body he kicked the corpse through a nearby wall before pointing his sword at it and letting loose a cone of white light that reduced the Demon to ash. _This is more than regeneration._ He thought dodging yet another clumsy strike from the Demon. _Is it some sort of Sacred Gear?_ The demon he was facing was cut down with a single stroke of his blade.

 _They have mass to them, so it's not an illusion._ He was fighting the fourth one when he felt something in the air shift, and he immediately leapt, taking to the air just in time to avoid an attack from the shadows. _Oh no._ He thought seeing the 6 identical forms of the Demon in front of him, and realizing exactly what it was that had killed the exorcists. It wasn't through skill but through sheer numbers and attrition, all caused by a high-class Sacred Gear.

 _Trickster's Gamble._ He thought grimly. The base form of the gear allowed the wielder to create two copies of themselves and if the wrong copy was attacked then the copy would double almost like a hydra. There were no recorded limits to the multiplication and the only way to stop the copies from doubling was to strike and eliminate the original. The worse part was that the copies each held a similar intelligence to the original.

 _This city may be lost to us._ He thought sadly, as dozens of Demons appeared and began to flee towards the more populated parts of the city.

Snap! Crack!

The demons fell apart into tiny pieces as a purple net appeared in the entrance to the alley.

"What!?" The demon hissed staring at its doubles failing to regenerate. He did not respond as he continued to activate his own ability. "Kill him now!" Dozens of demons descended on him, only to be turned to ash as he unleashed his own attack.

"How?" The demon asked seeing all of its doubles slowly being destroyed by the cleansing Light he unleashed.

He took a step forward, his sword turning white as it glowed with divine power. "I refuse to die like this!" The demon jeered, as over a hundred clones appeared all over the roofs and began to scatter. "You might be immune to my attacks, but the rest of the people in this city aren't!"

"You poor deluded fool." For the first time since the fight began he spoke. The demon bristled at the comment, made in such a way that it the speaker was stating the obvious. Like the sky is blue or that the sun is bright.

A hundred spears materialized overhead and each speared a demon. _Tch._ He thought as each demon burst and created an additional two copies.

"You can't catch all of us!" It mocked, the rest of the sentence cut off into a gurgle as a spear of light pierced its throat.

"What's taking so long?" A smoky and sultry voice asked. A woman, appeared out of the shadows, radiating sexuality and power, her black leather clothes while not revealing were tight against his skin, giving him an idea of the succulent flesh underneath. Looking at her made one think of the darker aspects of pleasure and sex, the domination and submission, the mind numbing pleasure that made men and women putty. She had long dark purple hair and a superior smirk as she stared at him dispatching the Demon in front of him. To call her beautiful was an insult, as words were unable to fully describe her magnificence, and in her glory days she was spoken in reverent tones, her beauty often compared against her rival, Gabriel. This was his partner, the Fallen Cadre Penemue. "I'm getting bored." She yawned covering her mouth with one dainty glove covered hand.

"A pest refuses to die." He answered, dismissing his sword and taking to the air. She followed him up, 10 magnificent wings the color of the blackest night sprouting from her back. Hovering above her head was a perverse mockery of her Holy Might, a black shadowy halo.

Channeling the Holy Light flowing through his veins he connected himself to the System that his Lord had left in place, to enact a miracle. "Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire – he is God. Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you God in Israel and that I am your Servant, and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God and that you are turning their hearts back again." Raising his hand high into the sky he let loose with a clear commanding voice that shook the entire city of London. "Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench!"

From the sky fire began to rain down upon the city.

It wasn't so much meteors as thousands of spears of Holy Light crashed into the medieval city of London inside the old Roman City Wall, where the demons had begun to congregate and feast on the inhabitants.

"Let justice be done though the Heavens should fall." Penemue said solemnly

"You're 100 years too early to be quoting Adams." He responded, and for three days and three nights from the Lord's Day to Wednesday the two hovered, standing vigil while raining down Divine Judgment upon the heretical Demons. After the third day the attack waned and finally abated. No trace of the Demon remained.

They had watched the humans attempting to combat the Divine fires, to little avail. Lines of men carried buckets of water from the Thames while others swung firehooks breaking down the buildings in an attempt to make a firebreak. He had smirked as several made a makeshift bomb out of hastily gathered gunpowder in an attempt to take down one of the larger buildings. While they might've had some success against the Divine fire, it did little to delay the inevitable holocaust, and at sunrise on the fourth day the sun peeked above the horizon to reveal a devastated city. Most of the old city had been gutted, and even the mighty Cathedral of St. Paul was not spared the devastation, as the Demons had taken sadistic pleasure in rounding corralling people into the Sacred building before setting it aflame.

"Isn't it beautiful." His companion spoke, watching the people hard at work to reclaim what they could.

"It reminds me of Rome." He shivered, remembering the days when the Great Fire had ravaged his home.

"Those were the glory days." Penemue sighed in nostalgia, crossing her arms and pushing up her generous bust.

"Maybe for you." He snorted. "But I didn't particularly enjoy being hunted down and forced to hide in caves in order to practice my faith."

"No I guess you didn't, my Legate." She tinkled, dodging out of the way of a spear of Holy Light. "Now, now that isn't the way to treat someone as important as I. Isn't that right…husband?"

In that moment she wondered if she had pushed him a bit too far as his eyes turned to her with both hate and resignation.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Faithful Encounter

* * *

He remembers.

The Divine Beauty, molded by God.

Every conversation, every word, every moment that they spent together.

The sweet innocent smile of ruby succulent lips.

The meaningless massacres and suffering. The comforting embrace that held him.

Violet hair, splayed on silken sheets.

The shimmering illusion dissolved to show the harsh reality.

The Dark Seductress, reveling in her triumph.

Sapphire eyes, damp with tears.

Betrayal.

The jealousy that brought her pain.

Even now he can feel her presence. So close yet he couldn't reach her even if he held out his hands.

Time has dulled the pain, the memories of her voice, her actions misty with time. Yet in his heart, he knows…He Loves Her.

This is the path he chose. Yet he takes no pride in it.

The both floated there, the air tense in anticipation.

His pained and resigned expression a foil to her triumphant smirk.

* * *

Slowly his hand dropped back to his sides, the raw Holy Light just waiting to be shaped, dissipating back into the atmosphere. "No it's not…Dear." He said through gritted teeth.

She clucked her tongue in annoyance, flying closer to him so that she cupped his cheek in a velvet soft hand. "Why do you resist me so?" She asked, pain in her voice, hurting from his rejection. "After all our time together, you should know that I always get what I want. And what I wasn't most of all is you."

"That's a lie." He countered. "What you want most is to be better than your sister. To finally get your Father's approval." Her grip suddenly tightened, and became vise like. "Oh did I hit a nerve?"

"Take care what you say, dearest husband." She threatened. "Lest you forget who it is that holds the power here."

"Oh?" He asked mockingly, raising a single eyebrow at her display of bravado. "Well that would be intimidating if you were actually…well intimidating." At that, a new sun blossomed on the horizon as his power flared to life. She responded with her own release, the void like shadows clashing violently with the radiant aura he exuded. "Do not forget that it was I that won our last confrontation."

"Oh really?" She asked. "Then why is it that you are still here? That you still follow me and never stray far from my side?" Teasingly she added, "is it possible that you secretly pine for me? To once again experience that searing pleasure of our bodies entwined? That moment of pure ecstasy as the illusion dropped and you filled me with your seed. Or was it the fact that at that moment that my sister walked in on us?"

She gave a startled choke as a hand reached out and gripped her throat tightly. "Take care what you say wretch." Her words brought memories to the surface that he'd rather forget but was unable to. "I follow you not out of love or lust, but a duty that I was tricked into." Releasing her throat she glided just out of reach, running a dainty hand along her neck.

"Yes well you're doing a terrible job at it." She commented. He grimaced as another memory assaulted him.

* * *

Marble Halls and Golden Arches.

A raised dais with a wondrous Throne, fitting for only for his Lord.

A human, his Lord's favored child, standing amongst His Messengers.

The stout doors to the Throne Room open, revealing a beauty clad in white, His Lord's favored daughter, tears in her eye as she walks to the dais.

In front of the Throne they exchange their vows.

To be each other's wedded. To have and to Hold, from that day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till Death do them part. In accordance to her Father's Holy Ordinance, and his Lord's Divine Command, they pledged themselves to each other and to no other.

A flash of Golden Light, as divine chains bind the two together.

The pledge accepted, they retire for the night to consummate their marriage.

The fleeting touches turned possessive, as they explored the other's body.

Passion and love, pent up from hundreds of years of skirting the issue, unleashed as they ravaged one another.

What was once hesitant turned fierce and powerful as they reveled in the feelings, the woman whom he loved was in his arms. Together they lay, the bond between them solidifying and becoming impossible to break.

It was during that night that he was shown the truth. The golden doors to their room were thrown open, as a twin to the woman he held appeared.

Golden Blonde hair flowed down her back as her voluptuous figure froze in the doorway. She caught sight of the two of them, and immediately her eyes went wide in shock as tears began to flow.

A hand went to her mouth as she broke down and fell to the floor crying.

Never before had he heard the sounds of sadness come from such a being. Angels were never meant to cry, to have their hearts broken, and her wailing reflected this.

His heart instinctively wrenched at the sound, as he looked confused, his mind unable to comprehend the fact that there were two of the women that he loved, one crying on the marble floors, the other grinning triumphantly as she felt his warmth flooding her womb

She swung a leg over, dismounting him, as 12 wings burst from her back. "I win, Sister." She smirked.

12 wings unfurled from the angel on the ground, as she stared at her sister in disbelief. "Penemue?" She asked hesitantly,

"Who else would it be?" The angel said placing a single hand on her hip, as her form shimmered. Long violet hair splayed across the silken sheets, a stunning figure that easily rivaled her sisters, and beautiful eyes that once sparkled, now held a cruel and triumphant glint.

"Why?" She stammered.

"Because, dearest Gabriel." Penemue said getting off the bed, indifferent to the seed that pooled from her womanhood and ran down her leg. "You refused to act on your feelings, and I refused to let you have another thing that I desired."

With that declaration her 12 white wings began to slowly darken, and rather than fight against it as many other Angels would, she instead embraced the change. Her wings became the color of darkest night, and rather than lose her Halo as all other Fallen did, it instead became corrupted, a twisting shadowy effigy of its former self. She shivered in pleasure as her wings spread proudly. "Now this is power."

"What have you done?" Gabriel asked horrified.

"I've simply embraced what I was meant to be." Penemue responded cockily. "After all what you and I wanted most of all couldn't be done easily as Angels."

She jerked her hand back and the man that both of them loved flew into her grasp, a chain connecting the two of them. "You were always Father's favorite!" She sneered. "Daddy doted on you constantly, leaving poor, little Penemue to fend for herself. And now when we both fell in love with the same man, I refuse to play second fiddle to you anymore."

She grabbed him by the back of his head drawing him down for a soul searing kiss. His struggles were in vain as he didn't want to hurt her at the moment, preventing him from truly pushing her away. She pulled him away, the two of them out of breath, her tongue hanging out as she panted. A thin rope of saliva connected them, before she dove back in, licking and sucking him with a passion, his attempts to escape growing weaker and weaker as he began to enjoy himself.

Once again she pulled away, this time turning towards her sister. "You see, Gabriel, this is something only I can indulge in. Something that only my husband will get to experience."

"Your husband?" Gabriel whispered, before power literally exploded out of her, incinerating most of the room's decorations and furniture. "Dearest sister, I think it's time for me to remind you exactly which one of us is older and stronger." She said her once teary voice now held steel, as she rose to her full height and spread her white wings.

Both sisters ignited their weapons, Gabriel's being a golden spear while Penemue summoned a shadowy kite shield and arming sword.

""HE IS MINE!"" Both sisters screamed in defiance of the other, as they charged, weapons held high ready to smite each other. He watched in rapt attention as Gabriel's wings flickered black like her sister's. He tried to intervene, but before he could launch his own attack in an attempt to stop them his entire body froze and was restrained.

"Oh dear Husband, you weren't thinking about breaking your vows now were you?" Penemue asked with a hurt look in her eyes as she nimbly dodged her sister's assault. "You see the two of us are bound to one another, and nothing you or anyone does can possibly break that bond. Now sit back and let me take care of this hindrance."

Just as the fight was about to heat up and a translucent barrier sprang into existence around Gabriel, trapping her. Her wings flashed back to white and stayed like that no matter how much she screamed and slashed at the barrier.

"What's going on here?!" A voice asked. A handsome man with long blonde hair and emerald eyes came sprinting from the hallway. Almost instinctively he unfurled his own golden wings and wrapped them around him to deflect a blast of Light. "Penemue!" He asked in disbelief at seeing her black wings.

"Oh yes dear brother?" She asked sweetly. "I must thank you for activating the Lockout system of Father. Trapping Gabriel in a separate dimension was a fortunate side effect of preventing her from Falling." Both men were shocked at the situation still, and Michael was completely unprepared for the spinning heel kick that took him in the jaw and sent him hurtling from the room. "But you see my time here has come to an end. Now if you need me, I'll be on my honeymoon with my husband."

She grinned at the last word, rolling it along her tongue, savoring the taste of it, shivering at the look of hatred that Gabriel sent her way.

If it wasn't for the shield he was sure that Gabriel would've smote her sister without a second's hesitation.

"Come along Dear." Penemue commanded, jerking the chain that connected them, drawing it taut. He stumbled forward landing in her bosom, as she giggled, petting his head. "Oh, there'll be plenty of time for that later." She shot one last triumphant look at her sister before wrapping her wings around the two of them and vanishing in a flurry of feathers.

* * *

"All the time we spent together, the battle we fought, the lives we saved and took." He said sorrowfully. "Did none of that matter to you?"

"Oh my dear husband." She said gliding back to him and resting her head against his chest. She enjoyed the heat that he radiated as well as the beating of his heart. "It's because of that, that I didn't want to lose you."

"My sister, is caring and loving, I fault you not for falling in love with her. Everyone loved dear, sweet, Gabriel, but everyone forgot me, Penemue, Gabriel's opposite. Where she was sweet and kind, I was harsh and unforgiving, an angel of Vengeance and Punishment. Like you I smote Father's enemies with zealous devotion. When Father told us to slaughter the Amalekites, I lead the charge. I slaughtered 50,000 of God's chosen people just for daring to peek at the Ark of the Covenant, and before that massacred 14,000 Israelites just for complaining that Father was killing too many of them."

She embraced him tighter, her hold growing desperate. "Only you could understand me, you who followed just as zealously, stained your hands with just as much blood. Only you can look at me and not be disgusted by what I've done. Only you can hold me like this and not be sickened at the stench of blood."

Anyone with a trace of empathy could feel the fear in her voice. Fear of rejection, abandonment, like she had suffered at her Father's hands. No matter what she tried she could not be the good daughter that Gabriel was.

Almost subconsciously his hands tightened around her, holding her closer as his own feelings took over.


End file.
